Bauer rebranding 53 stations to The Hits/Greatest Hits: The majority of its acquisitions last year - Page 62

IS

Inspector Sands 25 February 2021 1:45pm

james-2001 posted:

Always sad that these things are being turned off even though it makes sense as the world's moved on from AM radio. A lot like the decimation of short wave the last 20-odd years, incredibly sad though again makes sense because there's so many other ways to get access to the content than expensive powerful transmitters.

Yes and its a surprise that it's mainly been Bauer and the BBC who've been closing theirs down. With a few exceptions - Exeter and Reading, Global haven't been following suit for some reason, presumably something to do with licensing?

I notice that their Manchester MW frequency is going off as GHR is on FM there now from Oldham (what was Revolution) how well does it get into Manchester itself?

BU

buster 25 February 2021 2:09pm

Ironically it wasn't long ago I saw a GHR TV advert that had "Online - DAB - FM - AM" along the bottom of the end board, and it struck me how unusual it is to see AM mentioned in any publicity whatsoever anymore as there is almost always a better option to listen.

JA

james-2001 25 February 2021 2:26pm

Even most BBC local stations never mentioned their AM frequencies in their dying days (are there any still broadcasting on MW? I know ours closed down after taking it off unannounced briefly to see if anyone noticed or complained- and hardly anyone did).

I know I used to be able to get the BBC Three Counties MW signal here which always suprised me, being a very weak signal from a transmitter the best part of 100 miles away.

BB

BBI45 25 February 2021 2:52pm

james-2001 posted:

Even most BBC local stations never mentioned their AM frequencies in their dying days (are there any still broadcasting on MW? I know ours closed down after taking it off unannounced briefly to see if anyone noticed or complained- and hardly anyone did).

I know I used to be able to get the BBC Three Counties MW signal here which always suprised me, being a very weak signal from a transmitter the best part of 100 miles away.

Given that I've got nothing better to do, I decided to visit Frequency Finder to see which are still on AM. It turns out there are quite a few:

729kHz - BBC Essex
738kHz - BBC Hereford and Worcester
756kHZ- BBC Radio Cumbria
765kHz - BBC Essex
774kHz - BBC Radio Bradford / BBC Radio Leeds
801kHz - BBC Radio Devon
837kHz - BBC Radio Cumbria
855kHz - BBC Radio Lancashire
873kHz - BBC Radio Norfolk
990kHz - BBC Radio Devon
1026kHz - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
1026kHz - BBC Radio Jersey
1035kHz - BBC Radio Sheffield
1116kHz - BBC Radio Derby (BBC Asian Network 7pm-1am)
1116kHz - BBC Radio Guernsey
1413kHz - BBC Radio Gloucestershire
1503kHz - BBC Radio Stoke
1566kHz - BBC Somerset
1584kHz - BBC Hereford and Worcester

NJ

Neil Jones Founding member 25 February 2021 3:01pm

I believe the BBC Asian Network also uses 828Khz in the West Midlands. And apparently 1458Khz. Not sure what the difference is if any between the frequencies.

MA

Markymark 25 February 2021 3:01pm

Inspector Sands posted:

james-2001 posted:

Always sad that these things are being turned off even though it makes sense as the world's moved on from AM radio. A lot like the decimation of short wave the last 20-odd years, incredibly sad though again makes sense because there's so many other ways to get access to the content than expensive powerful transmitters.

Yes and its a surprise that it's mainly been Bauer and the BBC who've been closing theirs down. With a few exceptions - Exeter and Reading, Global haven't been following suit for some reason, presumably something to do with licensing?

I notice that their Manchester MW frequency is going off as GHR is on FM there now from Oldham (what was Revolution) how well does it get into Manchester itself?

It's certainly hasn't got Greater Manchester wide coverage, like 1152's FM sibling service from Piccadilly's days, 103.0.

Likewise, 96.5 from Blackpool Tower (Radio Wave in old money) doesn't have the same coverage that 999 has (Red Rose AM in old money)

MA

Markymark 25 February 2021 3:05pm

Neil Jones posted:

I believe the BBC Asian Network also uses 828Khz in the West Midlands. And apparently 1458Khz. Not sure what the difference is if any between the frequencies.

1458 is from Langley Mill, a highly directional site that only beams the signal towards Birmingham, and not Wolverhampton
Therefore Wolverhampton is served separately by 828.

Langley Mill was originally built by the IBA for BRMB on 1152. The BBC shared the site from 1981 for BBC WM, and also Beacon's Sedgley site on 828. These were transferred to Asian Network in the 90s.

MA

Markymark 25 February 2021 3:09pm

BBI45 posted:

james-2001 posted:

Even most BBC local stations never mentioned their AM frequencies in their dying days (are there any still broadcasting on MW? I know ours closed down after taking it off unannounced briefly to see if anyone noticed or complained- and hardly anyone did).

I know I used to be able to get the BBC Three Counties MW signal here which always suprised me, being a very weak signal from a transmitter the best part of 100 miles away.

Given that I've got nothing better to do, I decided to visit Frequency Finder to see which are still on AM. It turns out there are quite a few:

<snip>

If I were a betting man, I'd say the remaining Devon service on 990 for Exeter will go next, along with Jersey and Guernsey

EM

Emily Moore 25 February 2021 3:11pm

Markymark posted:

Inspector Sands posted:

james-2001 posted:

Always sad that these things are being turned off even though it makes sense as the world's moved on from AM radio. A lot like the decimation of short wave the last 20-odd years, incredibly sad though again makes sense because there's so many other ways to get access to the content than expensive powerful transmitters.

Yes and its a surprise that it's mainly been Bauer and the BBC who've been closing theirs down. With a few exceptions - Exeter and Reading, Global haven't been following suit for some reason, presumably something to do with licensing?

I notice that their Manchester MW frequency is going off as GHR is on FM there now from Oldham (what was Revolution) how well does it get into Manchester itself?

It's certainly hasn't got Greater Manchester wide coverage, like 1152's FM sibling service from Piccadilly's days, 103.0.

Likewise, 96.5 from Blackpool Tower (Radio Wave in old money) doesn't have the same coverage that 999 has (Red Rose AM in old money)

The coverage of ex-Revolution is okay , but it's certainly not a city-grade signal. Previous ownership marketed it for a period in the 2000s as an indie-rock station for Manchester rather than a local station for Oldham. It struggles in and around the densely built-up city centre, and that's only going to be more of a problem for them as more development takes place and taller towers go up. (It was, of course, also a significant problem for the AM.)

Coverage of 96.5 from Blackpool Tower is largely limited to the Fylde. It doesn't reach far beyond the M6 eastwards. The tower itself is tall, but its site is low-lying (being right on the coast) and it was never designed to reach Preston or the towns of East Lancashire.

EM

Emily Moore 25 February 2021 3:24pm

For "where does X station cover?" questions, this site is excellent:

http://a-bc.co.uk/mca-measured-coverage-area-maps/

MA

Markymark 25 February 2021 3:27pm

Emily Moore posted:

Markymark posted:

Inspector Sands posted:

Yes and its a surprise that it's mainly been Bauer and the BBC who've been closing theirs down. With a few exceptions - Exeter and Reading, Global haven't been following suit for some reason, presumably something to do with licensing?

I notice that their Manchester MW frequency is going off as GHR is on FM there now from Oldham (what was Revolution) how well does it get into Manchester itself?

It's certainly hasn't got Greater Manchester wide coverage, like 1152's FM sibling service from Piccadilly's days, 103.0.

Likewise, 96.5 from Blackpool Tower (Radio Wave in old money) doesn't have the same coverage that 999 has (Red Rose AM in old money)

The coverage of ex-Revolution is okay , but it's certainly not a city-grade signal. Previous ownership marketed it for a period in the 2000s as an indie-rock station for Manchester rather than a local station for Oldham. It struggles in and around the densely built-up city centre, and that's only going to be more of a problem for them as more development takes place and taller towers go up. (It was, of course, also a significant problem for the AM.)

Coverage of 96.5 from Blackpool Tower is largely limited to the Fylde. It doesn't reach far beyond the M6 eastwards. The tower itself is tall, but its site is low-lying (being right on the coast) and it was never designed to reach Preston or the towns of East Lancashire.

I believe the Americans call such services (trying to hit a major city, from a service 'out of town'); Rimshotting !

LL

London Lite Founding member 25 February 2021 4:04pm

If Hits Radio continues to tank in Manchester, it may be worth their while moving Hits Radio onto the current GHR FM frequencies of 96.2 in Oldham and 107.4 in Bolton and Bury, along with possibly 102.4 in Wigan and St. Helens which isn't part of GHR Manchester, to allow GHR to move to the Greater Manchester wide frequency of 103.0.

It's also worth noting that 96.2 from Oldham is mono only as Bauer don't have a line feed to the transmitter, instead using a DAB receiver to relay the content with is at 80k mono from the Manchester mux.